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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Ames Human Relations Commission - AHRC Minutes 3-26-2015M I N U T E S HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION March 26, 2015 The regular meeting of the Ames Human Relations Commission was called to order by Amy Juhnke at 5:31 p.m. in City Hall Room 235. Members present were John Klaus, Barbara Woods, Devita Harden. Stephanie Sobotka from the City’s Human Resources Department was also present. PUBLIC FORUM Del Christensen of IRIS and Raghul Ethiraj introduced themselves. OLD BUSINESS A. Approval of February 26, 2015 Minutes – Brian pointed out that the room was the Council Chambers. Devita mentioned her last name was misspelled. A correction was noted regarding the mention of the MLK Commission in the Commissioner Comments. Moved by Woods, seconded by Harden to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion carried unanimously. B. Year End Report 2014 - 2015 – Amy asked for corrections and wondered if others needed more time for review. Barbara asked if adding photos was an option, but Amy suggested not having them. Moved by Woods, seconded by Harden to approve the report. Motion carried unanimously. The plan is to present the report to City Council on April 28th. The Commission asked for Cathy to send a reminder. C. A Home For Everyone Award – Brian noted that it was his understanding to revise the award, add the criteria and narrative box, and get it back to Commission. Amy suggested that since April is Fair Housing Month, we don’t want to get this out if it is not ready. She suggested working towards getting it ready for next year and making a bigger outreach push. Barbara suggested that we need to give a progress report to Vanessa Baker-Latimer. Amy agreed to contact Vanessa. Barbara asked if it is possible to advertise Fair Housing month in the Tribune. Amy replied she thinks the Commission already committed to that. E. Diversity Event with ISU Students – Amy mentioned that the committee at ISU is getting together next week. She is going, but others are welcome. A representative will join the Commission at its meeting next month. Raghul is also attending that ISU meeting. Devita is bringing in the MLK planning group next month. The meeting is in Room 3517 Memorial Union at ISU April 2 at 6 p.m. NEW BUSINESS A. IRIS Peace Walk – Del Christensen described IRIS’s work. He indicated that IRIS is interested in doing an event to build awareness of IRIS and develop an activity that could be done annually. The first annual Peace Walk will take place September 19th at Ada Hayden, which will provide an opportunity for fundraising for international scholarship and grant programs and to learn about cultures of the world. Melissa had suggested that it would be helpful to talk to the Commission about building awareness and also consider whether it was possible for a sponsorship to take place. Amy asked about the sponsorship levels. Del indicated that $500 gets recognition on the t-shirt, less than that gets recognition on the website, $2000 gets a water tent sponsorship. Amy asked if the Commission could put a table up, and Del said yes. Amy said the Commission could discuss sponsorship at another meeting. Del indicated that he would be interested in obtaining the Commission’s contact list. Amy said the Commission would rely on staff to gather that contact information. Barbara suggested contacting ISU Students and Scholars. John suggested contacting the ISU Dean of Students or VP for Student Affairs. Barbara encouraged making contact with schools in the county to get young people out. Raghul suggested collaborating with the Committee on Lectures to see if they are interested in having a companion lecture around the same time. There was a discussion about whether this information is making sense to Raghul, and Brian said he would have an orientation meeting with new commissioners. Amy suggested reviewing the budget and committing to a dollar amount for the sponsorship at the next meeting. John suggested that FACES had a challenge with not reflecting the actual population of Ames, so we don’t want to lose sight of that. Brian will revise budget and send it back out. B. State Proclamation of 50th Anniversary of the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965 – Amy asked if anyone could make it. C. Commissioner Comments – Amy brought up the Office of International Students and Scholars. A person at the Friendship Day event last month had spoken with Melissa and perhaps there was some misunderstanding that the Commission was partnering on their event next month. Amy clarified and learned that ISS is going to have four events per year and is looking for partners that plan, staff, and promote events; ISS then gets students to attend. Amy suggested that isn’t a great role for the Commission, but perhaps they can find a third party who can do that. She asked whether we want to pursue helping connect partners for events like this. Raghul suggested that is a great idea. He mentioned that ISS is working on developing a semester long class that helps orient international students to community resources and it may be helpful to get the Commission involved in the programming of that class. The Commission would like to pursue that option. Raghul agreed to gather more information and it will be discussed on the next meeting agenda. Amy thanked Barbara and Nicole for their time on the Commission. Barbara said she initially got connected because she saw something on her street and talked about an issue to the Commission. Devita thanked Barbara for challenging her to think about things with a different lens. Amy asked for the next meeting to include a discussion about budget considerations. Additionally, it was requested that a banner be discussed that can be generic and welcome people at events, as well as options for shirts or name badges. The IRIS sponsorship discussion was requested to be on the next agenda. Amy asked Devita to look at banner pricing. Brian will check on T-shirt prices. Devita said that there is an ongoing dialogue between the NAACP and the Police, and they mentioned National Night Out. That might be an opportunity to have a Commission presence. Amy suggested that Devita should tell the Police that the Commission wants to participate. Devita will invite the MLK planning committee to next month’s meeting to update the commission on what they are doing. D. Time and Date of Next Meeting - April 23, 2015 at 5:30 p.m. ADJOURN: The meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m.